AAP condemns the formation of PDAs in Goa

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa condemned the formation of Planning Development Authorities (PDAs) with extensive outline development plans terming it as a “ pay backtime” and alleged that it was intented to meet those old commitments.

In a statement, the party said, “This scam called PDAs need to be scrapped as was the RP 2011. At the very least, the state of Goa needs to follow the constitution of India of which it is a part.”

AAP called upon the Government to listen to the voices of the people in St Cruz and St Andre areas that were loud enough to be heard.

The party pointed out that the real problem was the PDAs themselves that prepare the plans was an unconstitutional body.

“Under the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution in 1992, all planning has to be done by the Panchayats and Municipalities with the Town Planning acting as a technical body to support it. While the 73rd amendment allowing powers to set up development committees to the panchayats has been done, the actual rights to do planning has not been devolved and this is still centralised allowing PDAs to function and with MLAs from very different constituencies heading them not answerable to the people. This centralisation has led to planning decisions which are against people and the environment and blatantly in personal interest,” the statement said.
Terming the ODPs as a subset of the Regional Plan, AAP said that it was now very clear why the 2021 plan is kept in abeyance.

“Currently the RP 2001 is in use, where the whole of Goa sits on a small table and Town Planners tell you whether your land is in settlement or out using a plastic school ruler and a vague practice, where a slip of 1 millimetre could free up thousand square metres. This was earlier stopped with the preparation of the 2021 plan and is now being revived, as we all know, vagueness helps the corrupt. The outline development plan despite all the claims has no scientific or constitutional basis and goes against all planning norms,” AAP said.